Bang, Roll, Splash (BRS)

If you have been following us for any time at all you know we have been doing a whole bunch of work on the boat to prepare it for our adventure. The list is lengthy and includes a lot of work done on the exterior of the boat.

Any time you work on the exterior of a boat you are subject to the dreaded BRS. Our friends on Salish Dragon  https://www.sailblogs.com/member/salishdragon/contents/1 call it plop, plop, sploosh but regardless the results are the same.

So what is BRS? Well  here’s my most recent example. I needed to drill a hole in the stainless steel arch to mount a light. Drilling stainless steel is not an easy task without a special drill bit. Of course I did not have the right size so off to the hardware store I go and drop 25 bucks on a cobalt drill bit. Back at the boat I insert the drill bit into the drill and begin drilling the hole. The location for the hole is  situated above my head so I take a moment to rest my arm and lower the drill. Now I have drilled thousands of holes to date and never lost a drill bit from the drill but BRS struck. Oh and BRS’s always happen in slow motion.

My arm relaxes, the drill tilts downward, the drill bit slides out of the drill, bounces on the first step (Bang), (Rolls) to the second step. I yell SH*T and STOP but it obviously does not listen to me and proceeds to slide off the last step and into the water (Splash). Completing the entire Bang Roll Splash event in less than a couple of seconds

BRS = 10 minutes of ownership, one third of the hole drilled and a $25 drill bit sitting on the bottom of the bay.

At least the hole was started, an old school drill bit completed the task. I did get the light installed. I’m still not happy about losing the new drill bit.

Another recent fix saw a 1/2 inch socket fall and  bounce off the cockpit floor, up onto the cockpit seat, over the side of the boat, onto the dock and over the side of the dock and into the bay. And Barb wonders why I have 3 of everything onboard.

Damn you BRS.